The present invention pertains to an over-center spring hinge mechanism for mounting a cover to a vehicle accessory and particularly one for use in connection with an automotive visor.
Automotive visors have incorporated an illuminated vanity mirror for several years. U.S. Pat. No. 4,227,241 discloses one such construction in which a cover is mounted to the mirror frame utilizing a pivot arm and an over-center spring arrangement for providing snap-open and closed operation of the cover. Other cover arrangements have also been employed including those shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,213,169 which discloses a cover having a cam-shaped stub axle which cooperates with a socket in the mirror frame for camming the cover into an open or closed position. More recently, flat spring-type controls have been used with snap-on covers as disclosed for example in U.S. Pat. No. 4,760,503.
While all of these mounting configurations provide the desired cover control, they typically are used in connection with visors in which a molded polymeric frame is incorporated as part of the mirror construction. In such construction, the frame typically integrally must include the provision of a socket or axle for the cover mounting arrangement.
As cost and weight reduction becomes increasingly a more important design goal in the automotive industry, and in the design of automotive visors, and particularly visors incorporating high-end features such as a covered illuminated vanity mirror package, the utilization of a separate mirror frame and its associated mold tooling and materials costs, have made such construction, although attractive and functional, less desirable. Also, with modern vehicles, a cleaner appearance can be achieved by a cover with a so-called "close-on cloth" look and feel which is provided by a mirror cover which closes directly on an upholstered visor body. Further, some visors are now made with fiberboard cores as opposed to molded polymeric cores, to further reduce cost and weight.
The mounting of a cover to a fiberboard visor body which includes a covered but frameless illuminated vanity mirror package for the visor becomes problematic since there can be no socket for receiving a cover pivot axle. One solution to this problem has been proposed in U.S. patent application entitled MULTIPLE FUNCTION VISOR, Ser. No. 383,542, filed July 24, 1990, in which mounting posts are employed with configured ends to attach to the body of the visor which can be a molded polymeric material or any planar substrate material.